a) Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a device for marking microscopic preparations. It can be used in connection with a conventional optical light microscope. Above all, in pathological anatomy, hematology, cytology and microbiology, it is often desirable to permanently mark determined parts of the microscopic preparation so as to make it easier to find these parts again quickly. However, the object of actual relevance should not be concealed or overlaid by the mark.
b) Description of the Related Art
To this end, devices have been developed in which a writing tip is fastened to one of the objectives in such a way that when the objective approaches the preparation or when the preparation is moved toward the objective the writing tip leaves a mark on the microscopic preparation in the vicinity of the optical axis of the objective. Such devices are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,521, U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,979 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,082. The basic disadvantage in these marking devices is the space required for the mechanical construction between the objective and the preparation, which space is generally larger than the observation distance of the objective, so that the objective can not be used to observe the preparation. Since one of the objectives is therefore not available for use, it has been suggested to design a marking device in such a way that it can be screwed into the objective turret of the microscope in place of an objective. This kind of solution is described in DE-OS 40 11 575. In so doing, a felt tip which is held in the interior of the marking device is lowered manually onto the preparation and leaves a circular mark in the manner of a stamp. The disadvantage of this solution consists in that the size and shape of the mark is determined by the stamp; that is, different marks can not be applied for different labeling of different locations in the preparation.